Jurassic Florida by Hunter Shea

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Five "Action Packed Lizard" stars! 

Fun in the Sun!

A small taste of what lies within:

Small town of Polo Springs, Florida, have endured all kinds of things together. When an oil rig out in the Gulf of Mexico is shut down from some earth eco activists, the town of Polo Springs becomes a sight seeing place for little green lizards. Not just a few lizards, but a plague of lizards that start spewing up from the earth itself.

The citizens of the town try to get the lizards under control, but when Hurricane Ramona comes barreling through, tiny green lizards is the least of their worries. Giant lizards start showing up and all hell breaks loose!

Thoughts:

Wow! This book was my first book ever by author, Hunter Shea and when I saw it the cover just attracted me as I live in Florida so the book looked like fun! When I read this book in 2018, I was looking for something "different" in horror and I found it with this book! 

What I wasn't expecting though was a fabulous romping adventure that turned this book into a bloody gore fest with creatures running loose in the streets and it took me on a fun-filled ride into terror! 

The author, Hunter Shea is a master at writing "creature feature" books and I was entranced from the first chapter onward to the end of the book as I could literally not put this book down! 

Since I do live in Florida, I cannot imagine "Jurassic Park" type of creatures running rampant all over the state! What a nightmare that would be! But thankfully, it is all in the author's mind so I guess I am safe! :)

Highly recommend to all horror fans that love "creature feature" books as you will not be disappointed! 



Attached is the profile page from the author from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5224760.Hunter_Shea

Attached is the profile page from the author from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-Shea/e/B00K6MMV22

My review from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2401930000

Thoughts - Book Reviews (General) - Part I

My thoughts on book reviews ranges far and wide.  This post is part of a bigger picture on book reviews and I will be doing more review posts in the future.

When I first started doing reviews on books I was really a novice as I was never one to go into detail on how a book made me feel. When I first started on doing reviews they were like one paragraph with not much to tell on the book itself.  I was disappointed in myself for not putting my "feelings" into the review, so I went cruising around Goodreads checking out different readers book reviews to see how they did their reviews and what were they doing to draw other readers to their review.

Some readers on Goodreads will literally tell a story about the book and how the book literally made them feel as they were reading it. Some readers even add pictures and gifs to get their point across on the book. Some readers do not tell a story at all and some just rate the book with no story telling. Everyone is different on how to do a review and how much information they are willing to put into the review itself. Everyone has their own opinion on how they want their review to look or what they want to say in the review.

This post I am doing is how I go about doing reviews and after spending a lot of time on Goodreads looking at different reviews, I decided to try my hand at the "story telling" part of the book as I figured I would want my review to be something that readers could see and feel what I was feeling as I read the book.

So I now do "story telling" reviews by giving a little background on what the story is about and how the story made me feel. I have even on some reviews added in gifs and pictures to get my point across. I like to mix it up on what I put into my reviews. The most important thing to me on doing book reviews is that I get my point of the book across to other readers so it will give them an idea on if the book sounds like it might be something they would want to read or not.
So those are my thoughts on book reviews in general.

Happy Reading Everyone!

House of Shadows - Book One

Another impressive haunting tale by author, Darcy Coates! This time the author went into the gothic realm and all I can say is: "Wow"!  The author really captured the feel of what "gothic" books are suppose to feel like and what I remember when I use to read gothic books years ago. 

I sat down to read this book knowing that it would definitely be an interesting ghostly read as that is what the author is known for mainly with her "haunting tales" that she weaves around the reader! 

What I wasn't expecting was to be so entranced with the book that I ended up reading almost 50 pages in one sitting! I kid you not! I did not move out my chair for "awhile" as I just could not lay the book down! Actually it was early morning hours before I thought I better go to sleep and even then I "really" did not want to lay it down, but sleep won out finally and I did lay the book down. 

I am not going to go into details of storyline on here as I will be attaching my review which gives more of the backstory. I just love the haunting stories of this author as she always seems to capture the "mood" and "feel" of the storyline and literally brings the reader into her world! If the character/characters are "feeling" things within the house, the reader will be feeling it as well! So just a little example of what you will experience: if a door slams you will hear it; if there are whispers on the wind, you will hear it; if there are footsteps creaking up the stairs, you will hear it; and if there is "something" breathing in your ear, you will hear it! 

So if you want a book that will surround you with a haunting setting and you are just in the mood for a classic gothic book then by all means go grab this book as you will not be disappointed! Oh and by the way, there is a sequel to this book which I have already bought and it is waiting to be read on my kindle! 

For my full review of the book House of Shadows - Book One, please see my review from Goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1789117100

Attached is the profile page from the author at Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7734837.Darcy_Coates


Attached is the profile page from the author at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Darcy-Coates/e/B00HVNVT0E

Dead Crow by David Haynes

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Five "Blood Fest" Stars

A small taste of what lies within:

The town of Dead Crow is under a deluge of rain and as the days pass there seems to be no let up. That is not the only thing that has come to Dead Crow as there seems to be something in the water!

Chief Andy Curran tries to make the best of it with the town being flooded with rain, but when people start disappearing he is beside himself to find out what happened to them. The Chief along with some town residents find out that strange creatures have appeared and they are very hungry!

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more then go read this book!

Thoughts:

This was a fun gory creature romp from author, David Haynes!  With a skull on the cover I knew it was going to be an interesting read and I was not disappointed as it turned out to be a "creature feature" blood fest! 

This book takes off quick from the first chapter and doesn't let up all the way to the end of the book! As always I love the creativity of author David Haynes as he comes up with some interesting stories to keep readers on their toes! 

Attached is the profile page of the author from Goodreads:

David Haynes

Attached is the profile page of the author from Amazon:

David Haynes

My Goodreads Review:

My Review

Note: I have updated this blog with artwork and revised the blog wording slightly. 

Ghostland by Duncan Ralston

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Five "Ghost Action" Stars

Attacking Ghosts!

A taste of what lies within:

Two friends Ben and Lillian along with Lillian's therapist Dr. Wexler decide to check out the new theme park, Ghostland. The theme park has all different kinds of exhibits that include ghosts which are trapped within those exhibits. The park comes with a map of where everything is located and the place is huge. Also Ben, Lillian, and Dr. Wexler are handed special glasses to see the ghosts as without them they will see nothing.

Ben is excited most of all as Ghostland is centered around horror author, Rex Garrote, who had died in an unique way and who had also lived in one of the most haunted houses in America. So Ben is really psyched to be able to explore the theme park and he just wants to delve deep into all the exhibits.

Everything seems to be going along smooth as silk until on the tram ride through the park an unexpected event happens when the computer system to the park fails and the trapped ghosts that are exhibits become "un-trapped"!

The ghosts are free and when that happens all hell breaks loose in the park as the ghosts go on a rampage destroying anything that gets in their way!

Thoughts:

This book just grabbed me right from the first page and took me on a ride that I still haven't forgotten! I read this book last December and I just loved how the book pulled me in from the get-go with no release till the end of the book!

The author, Duncan Ralston, went into extensive detail with this book along with major research for the book and you can tell by reading the book just how much time he took to write it.

A theme park where the main attractions are ghosts, but would happen if for some uncanny reason, the attractions stopped working? What would happen to the ghosts and where would they go? Well those are the questions of the century I can tell you that and if you want to find out what happens when mean spirited ghosts are freed into a theme park filled with customers then you need to go read this book! 😁

I put some extra thoughts in my review on Goodreads so you can go check that out if you are inclined to know more. 



Attached is the profile page of the author from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7509031.Duncan_Ralston

Attached is the profile page of the author from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Duncan-Ralston/e/B00F23Y41Q

My review from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3040750086

Reader Thoughts - Indie Authors

Thoughts not only for today but everyday.

I am a big indie author supporter and have been supporting the indie author community for a few years now. I do read main stream authors too, but I also lean toward non main stream authors. They are the ones that struggle with getting their books noticed. 

When I first started reading books by indie authors I was really impressed by the creativity of the stories. I thought to myself "Wow - this is really good"!  So good in fact that the stories were just as good as stories written by the main stream authors. So I started branching out more into the non-main stream world as I wanted to see what was out there. 

I started finding "tons of books" by indie authors in all different genres! I am thinking to myself "Cool - there are more books to be found", so I went on the hunt for more books to add to my ever growing pile of books. 

Normally those kind of authors have their book prices set low so that readers can access their books at a lower price to try them out. I would do the "samples" first to see if I liked the writing style and story of the author. By doing it that way I was able to discover new authors to add to my reading pile. 

Also having a kindle fire made it that much simpler as I was able to grab books at my fingertips and download them at a fast rate of speed! In the first year of my new found love of indie authors, I downloaded well over 1,500 books which was back in 2014/2015. 

I was on a roll as at that time a lot of the books were either free or priced below the five dollar mark, so I just would grab whatever I could as I didn't know when those books would ever be available again at the price I was getting them for, so my kindle was hungry for more! 😊

As of this writing, I am now the proud owner of over four thousand kindle books and 95% of those are indie authors. Indie authors are truly the "cream of the crop" as their books and stories have just as much passion for their work as the main stream authors do.  

Just because they are indie authors does not make them any less in the sight of the author world. They too have great stories that need telling and I am happy to say that at least I try to make an effort to grab whatever book becomes available from the indie author community. 

I will keep supporting them and will buy whatever I can when I can. Maybe by this time next year I will have another 1,500 books added to my ever growing tbr pile and I will be over the 5,000 book mark!

Okay I am off of here as I need to go buy some books! :) 

Happy Reading Folks! :)

UPDATE AS OF MARCH 5, 2023:

I thought I would go back in here and do an update to this blog post that I did back in May of 2020. It has been almost three years since I did this blog post and I have to say that my indie book tbr has grown big time as now my kindle and amazon cloud now holds approximately 6,499 ebooks!! 

If you are wanting stats on about how many of that total are indie books - I would say probably close to the 6,350 mark. I have some main stream stuff in my cloud but nowhere near to what I have from the indie author world! 

My thoughts are that I will have to be near 10,000 years old (LOL) to ever tap into them all but one thing for sure that I can say - I will never run out of anything to read! 😁

Once again - Happy Reading Everyone! 

Support the Indie Author Community! 

Immunity by Jeffrey Caston

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Five "Scientific Suspense" Stars

Emotional Thriller!

A small taste of what lies within:

Location: Oregon

Teenager Sarah Vinson seems like your normal everyday teenager, but she is not as she possesses some interesting powers running through her blood. When certain people find out that she has the power to control those around her, they come after her. Normal goes right out the window here as when Sarah gets upset and ticked off then lookout as she is able to attack her enemies in ways beyond your imagination!

That is about all I can give on a small taste as if you want to know more then go read this book!

Thoughts:

This was a great debut novel from author, Jeffrey Caston and the book moves along fairly quickly. The world building around the character was imaginative and I became attached to the main character (Sarah) in the story as I sympathized with what she was going through within the whole book. This was my second reread of the book and it was just as good the second time around! 

I was impressed by the creativity of the character Sarah and how she was able to handle herself in any given situation with just thinking about how to destroy her enemies. If this type of mind control was reality we would all be in trouble, but thankfully it is only in the imagination of the author! If you want to get more of a clear picture in your head of what the character Sarah is like then think about the book Firestarter by King except instead of fire the character Sarah is able to give the enemies diseases which is immediate and deadly to them!

Attached is the profile page of the author from Goodreads:

Jeffrey Caston

Attached is the profile page of the author from Amazon:

Jeffrey Caston

My Goodreads Review:

My Review

Note: Updated digital artwork on this blog and revised my review since I did a reread of the book this month. 

Backwoods Ripper by Anna Willett

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Five "Twisted Tension" Stars

Scary Suspense!

Small taste of what lies within:

A couple are traveling through the back roads of Australia and end up breaking down. Someone comes along and seems to want to help the couple, but it turns out to be anything but help. What starts out as "help" turns into a "twisted nightmare" that makes the couple wonder if they will be able to survive this supposedly "Good Samaritan".

That is about all I can give out with small taste so if you want to know more then go check out this book! 

Thoughts:

This debut book by author, Anna Willett was awesome! When I read this book back in November of 2016, I barely could get out of my chair to do anything around the house as all I wanted to do was sit and read this book!

The story just grabbed me right away and the pace of the book was so fast that I could barely catch my breath! Reading it at night in the dark on my kindle was probably not the best decision, but I just could not help myself as the story just carried me along into the twisted backwoods of Australia!

The author just has a way with words that will grab you and slam you into your chair! Do you thinking I am kidding? Go grab this book and find out for yourself as once you enter the mind of this author there really is no escape!



Attached is the profile page of the author from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15315859.Anna_Willett

Attached is the profile page of the author from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Willett/e/B01HU1SG3E

My review from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1793893317

Dark Albion

Twisted Short Stories

This book has been on my kindle for awhile and I finally moved it up on my tbr (to be read) list as the stories seemed so intriguing! I knew there might be some twists and turns within these pages as I have read this author before and there are no holds barred within his books.

I was not disappointed when I read this book last year as the minute I picked it up to read I could not put it down as the stories just grabbed me and I read almost all of the book in one day. So if you want a fast paced book with some quick short reads then go grab this book as you will find there are lots of "twists" within these pages!

Below is my full review of Dark Albion on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2793305886

Attached is the author profile page from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1068132.David_Brian

Attached is the author profile page from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/David-Brian/e/B005OKXVVG

Hillary: Tail of the Dog (Hillary #1) by Angel Gelique

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Five "Twisted and Gritty" Stars

My goodness! What to say about this book! First off I was never one to truly want to explore the wild side of life and I have read some "mildly" extreme books before but this book really took me out of my comfort zone when I read it back in October of 2017. I had been wanting to step out into a different part of the horror genre to see what the "hard core" extreme books were like as I was just wanting to try to venture further into that realm of horror.

I can tell you this, I was not disappointed! Wow! This book really divides the fine lines of creepy horror to down-your-throat-rip-out-your-lungs horror! This book will take you way beyond places that you would not want to explore unless you are confined to a rubber room in the furthest reaches of a sanitarium!

From the first chapter all the way to the end of the book it was the most eye-opening extreme horror ride I have ever taken and I loved it so much that I read the second book as well to savor the extreme side of life that I had experienced in this book.

I am not going to attempt to give you a detailed account on this blog as I am providing my full review below from Goodreads! So if you want to take a walk on the wild side and explore a different type of horror than go grab this book as the author will take you to places that you didn't even know existed!

Below is my review of Hillary: Tail of the Dog from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2155314768

Attached is the author profile page from Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6494965.Angel_Gelique

Attached is the author profile page from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Gelique/e/B00J1OJ0RK